Sudden breaking glass

This one may be perfectly explainable. I was in the Den with the younger dog watching TV. My wife was at the computer in the library. The Library opens into the Den on the north side and the doorway was open between the two rooms. Our older dog was in the rocking chair in the library against the eastern wall. We have an air conditioner in the library which is against the eastern wall just in back of the rocker. All of a sudden we get a loud crash of glass. My wife turns toward the noise and sees the gray dog get down from the rocker and run to her; obviously scared. I came in out of the Den to ask what happened? My wife replied she didn't know but it sounded like someone had thrown a rock through the library window (the library windows are very narrow and tall. There are two of them roughly 9 ft. apart.) I checked out the library windows and they were still intact. I even went outside and around to those windows but everything was ok. I came back into the Library quite perplexed because I ,too, heard the crashing glass. Then, looking away from the window and toward our glassed in bookcase I found the cause of the crash, but no reason for it. On the south wall of the Library are 6 built-in book shelves that run from the floor to the ceiling. The bottom part (about 30 inches) are actually cupboards for storage with heavy wood doors. The rest of the shelves have glass paned doors. The weather here has been very hot and damp so we have left the doors on the shelves ajar to ward off mold or mildew (Which works pretty good with the air conditioner running). Upon inspecting the doors to the shelves I spotted one with half of the pane of glass missing. I hadn't seen the broken glass before because it was laying on a shelf that runs at just the top of the lower cupboards. The glass had only fallen five or six inches. How in blazes had it made so much noise? Also why had only half of the glass pane fallen? If the pane of glass was loose; wouldn't you have thought the entire pane would have gave away, not just the lower half? I think its rather strange. Anyway I have to get new glass cut to fit. That's a 22 by 12 inch pane. There are 8 of these panes in each door, some of the glass appears to be original (1857) glass but the pane that shattered looks to be modern.

Little black dog reappears.

I was in the bathroom, at the sink, when I again observed a small black dog which I immediately thought was my younger dog, come into the bathroom and trot toward the far wall. I may have blinked, but I didn't see it disappear, but it did. My dog, we call "Shadow" was definitely downstairs at the time. I definitely saw this small, fuzzy, black dog for several seconds. I'm getting old; perhaps it was a hallucination. I'd hate to think so. This is the second such episode. We did observe a small white with brown spots dog when we first moved here and for several years thereafter but was a jack Russell type and hasn't made an appearance in some time. I'm just reporting the episode. I have no answers.

White shirt skirts acoss aisle.

Today at my wife's store in Byesville, Ohio, I definitely observed a strange sight. It was early afternoon and a group of customers had just left. I was standing at the checkout station and my wife, facing me, was relating a story one of the customers had told her. Suddenly, across on the other side of the store I distinctly observed a white, long sleeved dress shirt move like it had someone in it down the far aisle toward the forward part of the store. I was startled but managed to say, What's that?" to my wife who had her back to the aisle. By the time she turned to look the form was gone. Telling her what I saw, she replied, "That sort of thing happens frequently. Maybe that sort of thing happens to her frequently but it startled me and I can't say it happens to me frequently. If I recall correctly, and I did see what ever it was for several seconds, it appeared to be a long sleeved, white, dress shirt. But I cannot say that it looked "solid" but on reflection I'd say it was a bit transparent. It moved quickly and was filled out, like someone was in it though no one could be seen. "Chalk it up to this old store being over 100 years old" was my wife's take on the episode. There are no windows on that side of the store. The only window on the side I was on, is a window in the entrance door and it is pretty much blocked by a large "open" sign. There are two windows in the rear of the store on the cash register side but they are heavily obscured and a wall separates them from the front half of the store. No rear windows until you enter the backroom and that door is kept closed. I do not know what I saw. I only know what it looked like.

Digging and Scratching noises

Last night we turned in about 11:30 pm. My wife went to her bedroom in the east wing of the house (She has a leg problem which requires frequent monitoring) and the two dogs and I went to the master bedroom. The dogs and I romped and played for about 30 minutes to tire them out good (I'm usually the one who is tired out). We all settled in for the night. The older dog took a position at the foot of the bed, made three turns and flopped down. He rarely stays there more than an hour or so, after which he jumps down and goes to his regular bed on the floor next to the heat registers. The younger dog takes her place about midway on the bed and pretty much stays there unless thunder is heard or the night turns cold when she moves toward the head of the bed. Last night I had just about dozed off when I was awakened by frantic digging and scratching noises. Dogs digging the covers is a definite no-no and I thought I had them broken of the habit. Because the sounds came from toward the foot of the bed I naturally thought it was the older dog digging up the covers. I yelled at him to stop. Looking toward the foot of the bed I could see him lying there looking at me as if to say "Stop what?" He was not digging and the younger dog, much closer to me was sleeping through it all. So neither dog were reacting to the digging noises. That is strange. I turned on the light beside of the bed and the digging sounds immediately stopped. The phantom digger has dug me awake before. There is never any sign of the digger or the dug. The dogs seem to ignore the sound though it is rather loud (if you have a dog who digs the carpet or blankets you know what I mean). I really don't think mice would dig that loud. If we have rats I'm not aware of it and besides I think the dogs would react to a rat. So what causes these sounds in the middle of the night? Another old house mystery.

Coughing

Last night I went up up our attic because I stored various seed sprouting trays and lights up there out of the way. While I was up there I distinctly heard someone cough. The attic in this old Victorian brick is large. It has narrow tall windows which we keep closed in cold weather. Extremely loud mufflers and sirens can be heard if they pass in front of the house. Other street noises do not penetrate our attic. Birds getting into our eves can be heard. Both of my loud mouthed schnauzers going at full pitch on the ground floor cannot be heard unless the attic door is open and even then they are not loud; you would almost have to be listening for them to hear them. My wife and both dogs were on the first floor when I was in the attic. My wife was working in the kitchen and our dogs would have been confined to the kitchen, library, dining room area. So who coughed? Brings to mind the night we were entertaining a guest in the library and the southern wall bookcase coughed, quite distinctly and loud. It was snowing that night and my guest insisted we were being snooped by someone. I said you can't hear people from outside unless the windows are open (they were not) but he insisted so we went out into the snow around the library. There were no tracks but our own. Unless bats cough loudly, I have no idea what or who coughed in my attic while I retrieve gardening supplies.

Strange talking in the hallway

I still have it. Its loud, its garbled, it still seems to be coming from a section of wall adjacent to the master bedroom. In an area where a dumbwaiter once existed. Its an inside the house wall. I'd swear it sounds like a shortwave radio or walkie-talkie. It doesn't last but a few minutes, sometimes, just a few seconds; but what can be causing it? This voice, seemingly male, has punctuated the silence of the upstairs hall , off and on, for several months now. Its a mystery I cannot find an answer for and its driving me batty. I have no close neighbors on any side. My closest neighbor is across the street from me. The nearest neighbor behind me is a quarter mile away. I have a warehouse where I store things on my left side and a wide lawn and old block, two stall, garage seperates me from my neighbors on the right. My dogs hear the voice and react to it by running to that upstairs wall and barking. This is not to be confused with the downstairs wall next to the library that the younger dog frequently backs at. I have recorded the voice but its no clearer on play back then it was originally. For this event there has to be a logical explaination. Does anyone out there who is knowledgeable about short-wave or walkie talkies have any idea how anything in this old 1857 structure could possibly be picking up such signals? Or do I actually have something paranormal?

Lost water

In regard to the half million gallons of water the county billed me for. No one could account for where the water went. My insurance company did pay for it (bless their hearts) and then sent me a paper stating that if it is ever found it belongs to them (the insurance company). If I ever find it I will gladly turn it over to the insurance company. Word of warning: If your water meter ever says you used some utterly unbelievable quanity of water; be prepared to pay for it because water meters are infallible. Enough on this expensive silliness.